Coil handling apparatus



Jv W. O'BRIEN COIL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed July 12, 1966 INVENTOR; JEREMIAH w. O'BRIEN- a Feb. 13, 1968 mm @I v 3 Ed? wmEw an vm $39G 39528 N m m w HIS AiTORNEY United States Patent 3,368,770 COIL HANDLING APPARATUS Jeremiah Wagner OBrien, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to United Engineering and Foundry Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed July 12, 1966, Ser. No. 564,701 Claims priority, application Great Britain July 26, 1965, 31,876/65 6 Claims. (Cl. 24279 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure of the illustrated embodiment of the present invention is that of an apparatus for handling and processing coils of strip incident to feeding the strip into a rolling mill. The disclosed apparatus essentially consists of a conveyor for delivering coils to the entry end of a rolling mill. At the delivery end of the conveyor there is successively arranged a coil elevating device and a coil box type uncoiler which has vertically displaceable support rolls. According to the teachings of the invention, the support rollers of the coil box are vertically positioned, whereby a coil supported by the rollers has its central opening aligned with respect to the mandrels of the coil box. Positioning of these rollers is controlled by the detected diameter of the coil while located on the coil elevating device. This is accomplished by displacing the coil on the elevating device to a fixed reference position and measuring the displacement of the elevating device to produce a representation of the coil diameter.

Much attention has been given in recent years by the designers and users of coil entry equipment for tandem cold strip mills, for example, a five or six-stand cold mill capable of receiving .110 gauge hot band strip and reducing it to standard tinplate gauges. The size of the coils may range from 36 inches to 70 inches in diameter and weigh as much as 70,000 pounds. These mills are designed to operate at extremely high speeds in which, in the case of a six-stand mill, the maximum speed may reach as high as 7200 feet per minute. A mill of such capabilities requires, if maximum productivity is to be reached, that the coil handling, processing and uncoiling equipment employed be capable of presenting coils to the mill in a continuous, uninterrupted sequence.

Prior attempts to satisfy the requirements of modern mills have included the practice of providing at least two stations for receiving, preparing and uncoiling the coils.

U.S. Patent No. 2,485,961 which issued to C. J. Duby on Oct. 25, 1949; U.S. Patent 2,708,078 which issued to H. H. Shakely on May 10-, 1955; and U.S. Patent 2,756,- 943 which issued to M. P. Sieger on July 31, 1956, are illustrative of such prior arrangements.

Although not illustrated in any of the three above patents, further developments of front end equipment for cold tandem mills have led to the employment of a combination coil box and a pair of mandrels, wherein the disks of the coil box and the mandrels are movable axially independently of each other. In this device coils formed without a reel and, therefore, having irregular openings were uncoiled by the coil box, while coils formed on a reel, since they have the same diameter openings, were uncoiled by the mandrels, which when dealing with heavy coils is preferred. In certain mills the side plates of the coil box were also employed when employing the mandrels for uncoiling the coils. The side plates of the coil box thus provided their usual guiding influence in addition to assuring that the coils were maintained in a straight position on the coil-supporting rolls of the coil box. When the mandrels were employed in lieu of the coil box, they were caused to pass into the opening of the coils at which time the coil-supporting rollers of the coil box were lowered away from the coil. These rollers, however, were employed to raise the coil into proper position for engagement by the mandrels. While the versatility afforded by employing a combination coil box-mandrel apparatus was desirable, it did not lend itself in its known forms to automatic operation, which has become mandatory in certain mill operations. One of the problems in this regard focused on the necessity of independent positioning of the individual coils to properly align their openings relative to the mandrels so that the mandrels could be brought into the supporting relationship. Since the diameters of the coils almost always vary, each coil required individual positioning resulting in lost time and the need and attendant cost of a workman.

The present invention relates to coil processing and uncoiling apparatus, including a first station, wherein the front end of the coils are prepared for feeding into a processing device, such as a tandem cold strip rolling mill, including means for positioning the coils vertically, said apparatus also including a second station wherein coils are fed into the mill after having been transferred into the second station from the first station, said second station including a means for vertically positioning the coils so as to align their openings with respect to a mandrel, which constitutes a part of the second station, together with additional means for measuring the diameters of the coils prior to their arrival at the second station, which means controls the operation of the coil positioning means of the first and second stations, so that the coils are positioned in said first station in accordance with their diameters relative to the mandrel of said second station and when transferred to said second station, the coils will be maintained in said relative position.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a means in combination with a device for measuring the diameters of the coils that will make allowance for the fact that the diameters of the coils will vary considerably which would otherwise cause an inaccurate determination of their diameters.

It is a further object of the present invention, in combination with the aforesaid objects, to provide a conveyor for bringing the coils onto a means which will present them to a first station, including means for automatically controlling the operation of the various elements that go to make up the coil handling, process and uncoiling apparatus.

These objects as well as others will be more fully understood when the following description is read in light of the accompanying drawing which is an elevational view, partly in section, of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

With reference to the drawing, there is illustrated the first stand 10 of a cold strip tandem rolling mill having work rolls 11. Coils of strip for the mill are brought to its entry side by a conveyor 12 spaced some distance away from the mill, the drawing only partially showing the conveyor, namely a sprocket 13 around which there rotates in the usual fashion a pair of chains 14 to which are secured for movement therewith a number of coilsupporting saddles 15. The drawing shows, in phantom, the minimum and maximum coils that the coil handling and uncoiling equipment now to be described receives. The coils upon operation of the conveyor 12 are disposed upon a cradle 16 which includes a pivotally mounted arm 17 to which there is secured a piston cylinder assembly 18 that raises the cradle to a coil-receiving position, which is shown in phantom, to a coil-discharge position, shown in full line. It should be here pointed out that prior to the coil being transferred it will have been previously centered relative to the mill, after which it will be transferred to the mill.

It should be pointed out that the cradle 16 has a proximity switch 19, of customary design, which will produce a signal when the bottom of the coil is supported by the cradle and which signal is employed to interrupt the operation of the motor that drives the conveyor. When the cradle is in its full line position, a coil supported thereon will be transferred onto a coil-conditioning lift 32 which constitutes a part of a first station. As the name suggests the lift consists of a frame 33 which is received in guides and moves vertically by means of a piston cylinder assembly 34. The lift includes two motordriven rollers 35 and 36; roller 35 being supported on a subframe 37 which is pivotal about the axis of the roller 36 for which purpose the frame is connected to a piston cylinder assembly 33 carried by the frame 33. It will be noted that the drawing indicates, in phantom, the raised position of the rollers 35 and 36. The lift 32 also comprises an inclined runway 41 which serves to support the coil passing from the lowered cradle 16 to the rollers 35 and 36. At the other side of the lift there is provided an apron or platform 42 which is secured to the frame 37 and pivots about the roller 36; the drawing showing, in phantom, the platform 42 in its lower position, during which position it serves as an incline runway and supports a coil passing from the first station to a second station which follows the first station in the direction of the mill.

The coil-conditioning lift 32 includes a small roller 43 arranged between the two rollers 35 and 36, being vertically displaceable towards a coil supported by the rollers 35 and 36. Roller 43 is carried by a rod :4 which, on movement, trips a limit switch 45 indicating the presence of the coil on the rollers 35 and 36 and initiates the reverse operation of the piston cylinder assembly 18 thereby to raise the cradle 16 onto its coil-receiving position. Once a coil is on the coil lift 32, the conveyor can be operated to cause a second coil to fall into the cradle. This operation is also controlled by the limit switch 45 which, in addition, will cause the coil conditioning apparatus to be brought over the lift 32, a lowering of the coil opening hold-down roller, and the movement of the shelves arranged on either side of the pinch roll machine into a strip-supporting position, which elements will now be described.

Directly above the coil lift 32 there is located a coilconditioning apparatus, which consists of a hold-down roller 46 driven by a motor 47, both of which are carried by a pair of parallel arms 48 and 49. The arms are associated with an electrical switch 52 which is tied in with the piston cylinder assembly 34 of the lift so that once the top of the coil contacts the hold-down roller 46, the switch 52 will effect an interruption of the operation of the cylinder 3 This will assure, irrespective of the particular diameters of the coils, that their upper surfaces will be positioned at a predetermined reference point. In addition, the coil conditioner equipment consists of a coil peeling device 53 and coil supporting shelves 55 which include a proximity switch 50, the shelves being provided to hold the leading end of the conditioned strip above a previous strip being fed into the mill from the second station and which passes under the shelf. These elements are well known in the art and, therefore, do not require further description.

The drawing indicates that the shelves 55 are made up of two sections separated by a pinch roll unit 56 having its upper roll vertically displaceable to allow the strip supported by the shelves to pass between the pinch rolls. The lower of the pinch roll unit is in line with the pass line and has strip-supporting platforms 57 and 58 on its entry and delivery sides. The shelves 55 are retractable away from the strip so that the strip supported by them can fall onto horizontally extending platforms 57a and 57b and the lower pinch roll. It is to be appreciated that the peeling device 53 is adapted to be retracted once the straightening operation has been performed, leaving the prepared front end of the strip supported only by the shelves and the coil free to pass into the second station.

As previously noted, it is an important aspect of the present invention to provide means for measuring the diameters of the coils from which information the elevation of the coils can be predeterminately positioned so that when transferred to the second station, the coils will be automatically positioned for uncoiling. To carry out this purpose the frame 33 of the lift 32 of the first station is provided with a rack 58 which meshes with a pinion 59 rotatably mounted on the stationary portion of the lift assembly. The pinion serves to rotate an electrical device 62, such as a rotrac, which is a pulse-counting device employed to measure the actual displacement of the lift. This is accomplished by simply subtracting the fixed distance between the lowest position of the rollers 35 and 36 and the reference point of the hold-down roller 46 from the measured displacement of the coil lift.

Turning now to the second station, which as indicated above, follows the first station in the direction of the mill 10, it comprises a coil lift 63 consisting of a vertically movable frame 64 received in guideways and connected to a piston cylinder assembly 65 provided for raising and lowering the lift 63. At the top of the lift there is provided a pair of spaced-apart idler rollers 66 and 67. To one side of the roller 66 there is provided an inclined platform 68 which serves as a continuation of the platform 42 when the two lifts are positioned to transfer a coil. Between the rollers 66 and 67 of the lift 63 there is provided a limit switch 71. The switch 71 serves to initiate action of other components of the second station which will, at this point, simply be referred to and described more in detail herematter. The switch 71 will effect traversing of the side plates of the coil box and the mandrels. The coil lift 63 will be automatically lowered by a pressure switch arranged in one of the hydraulic lines of the traversing systems for the mandrels. This switch will be operated upon the mandrels engaging the coil and creating a resistance.

The second station includes a coil box 72 which, according to usual construction, consists of two opposed side plates 73, only one being shown, independently movable in an axial direction towards and away from the coil supported on the rollers 66 and 67 so as to engage the sides of the coil. In combination with the side plates 73, there are provided separate mandrels 74 which protrude through openings formed in the center of the side plates having portions that are adapted to project into the opposed openings of the coil supported by the rollers 66 and 67. The mandrels have independent means for moving them relative to the side plates of the coil box 72. At the extreme lower end of the coil box, there is provided a cushioning roll 75 carried by an arm '76 which is pivotally mounted on a shaft 77 and positionable, as shown in phantom, to engage a coil passing through the second station in which a piston cylinder assembly 78 also connected to the arm 76 absorbs the inertia of the coil and insures that it is properly positioned on the rollers 66 and 67. Associated with the arm 76 is a limit switch 79 which is so positioned that it is adapted to be tripped when the coil diameter has been reduced to a predetermined dimension. The switch 79 is employed to signal the piston cylinder assembly 65 of the lift 63 to raise while the coil is being uncoiled in the second station to a proper height to receive the next succeeding coil which has been measured in the first station and which measurement controls the extent of the travel of the piston cylinder assembly 65; thus, the lift is in position to receive the next coil.

Above the combination coil box and uncoiler, there is provided a deflector roll 81 around which the strip rests after it falls into the shelves 57a and 571). It will be noted that the roll is on the same horizontal plane as the lower roll of the pinch roll unit 56. With reference to the shelves, it will be observed that there is provided a proximity switch 82 which produces a signal when the trailing end of the coil being uncoiled in the second station has left the coil box; thus, indicating that the second station is in condition to receive the succeeding coils from the first station.

A brief description of the above-described equipment will now be' given:

Let it be assumed that a coil has been posiioned in the first station and that the lift 32 has, by means of the piston cylinder 34, raised the coil to a position against the hold-down roller 46. As previously noted, the roller will actuate the switch 52 which will interrupt further travel of the cylinder 34. At the same time the rack 58 will displace the pinion 59 and cause a signal to be generated by the pulse counter 62 which will represent the diameter of the particular coil being processed. This signal will be retained in a memory circuit for the time being. The coil being supported by the two spaced-apart rollers 35 and 36 do not permit an exact measurement of their diameters since they will extend into the space between the rollers a different distance dependent upon their diameters. To reduce or eliminate any error caused by this condition, an electrical value to compensate for the error may be added to the value representing the determined diameter of the coils, thereby keeping the error to a very minimum.

After the coil contacts the hold-down roller 46, the switch 52 will cause the roller to be driven to urge the leading end of the strip which has previously been automatically positioned between the roller and the peeler device 53 so that the peeler device will separate the leading end of the coil from the body thereof to cause it to pass over the first portion of the shelves 55, through the pinch roll unit 56, and on to the second portion of the shelves. After the end has passed on to the second portion of the shelves, the proximity switch 50 will interrupt further operation of the hold-down roller 46. When this is accomplished, the peeler device will be traversed away from the strip leaving the strip to be supported only by the shelves 55. It is to be noted that in this position the leading end of the strip passes under the upper roll of the pinch roll unit 56, which at this time is raised to a position indicated in the drawing. The coil in the first station is now in position to be lowered to the proper elevation for transfer to the second station.

After the peeler device has been removed transversely and the second station is open to receive a coil, a signal from the limit switch 79 associated with the cushioning roll 75 is given to bring into effect the memory circuit which will control the operation of the piston cylinder assemblies 34 and 65 of the coil lifts 32 and 63, respectively, to locate the coil in a predetermined position and set the rollers 66 and 6-7 of the second station to receive the coil. In this connection the coil is lowered to a position where there will exist a predetermined distance between the axis to the coil when supported by the rollers 35 and 36 and the axes of the mandrels 74. For example, if the rollers 35 and 36 are located 8 inches above the rollers 66 and 67, then the lift 32 will be stopped so that the axis of the coil will be 8 inches above the axis of the mandrel. The lift 63 will be positioned approximately 8 inches below the lift 32, thus, assuring that the axis of the coil will match the axes of the mandrels 74. If a coil is being uncoiled in the second station, then in that event the coil positioned by the lift 63 will simply wait for the completion of the uncoiling of the previous coil. It is to be appreciated that the lift 63 can be positioned to receive a second coil even when the first coil is being uncoiled since its diameter will have been reduced and interference will be avoided. As previously noted, the positioning of the rollers 66 and 67, however, will not be accomplished until a signal is received from the limit switch 79 associated with the cushioning roll 75.

After this happens, the proximity switch 82 will initiate operation of the piston cylinder assembly 38 of the first station to cause the coil supported thereby to be rolled into the second station. It will be appreciated at this point that the piston cylinder assembly 78 will have been previously operated to bring the cushioning roll 75 into a position to contact the coil as it passes into the second station. Once the coil has come to rest on the rollers 66 and 67, assuming the mandrels at least are to be employed, the mandrels 74 can be immediately brought into engagement with the coil and begin to feed it to the mill at the same time the pinch roll unit 56 will be caused to engage the strip to feed it into the stand 10.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what I consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for handling coils of strip-like material having varying diameters incident to their being uncoiled into a processing machine,

a conveyor spaced from said processing machine at the entry side thereof, said conveyor including means for supporting a coil to be uncoiled,

a coil uncoiler, including a coil rotating member, arranged between said conveyor and said processing machine and adapted to uncoil strip into said processing machine,

a first coil elevating means arranged between the conveyor and said coil uncoiler and adapted to receive coils from said conveyor,

means for vertically moving said first coil elevating means,

means for interrupting the movement of said moving means at a predetermined position in the vertical movement of said first elevating means,

means for measuring the displacement of said first coil elevating means with reference to said predetermined position and producing a representation of the diameter of a coil, and

a second coil elevating means arranged between said first elevating means and said processing machine and adapted to position a coil relative to the coil rotating member of said coil uncoiler,

said second coil elevating means receiving the represen tation of the diameter of the coil and being positionable with respect thereto to locate the coil in position for engagement by said coil rotating member of said coil uncoiler.

2. In an apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said first coil elevating means is at a higher elevation than the second coil elevating means when both means are in their lowest positions,

a coil supporting apron at the exit side of said first coil elevating means and movable therewith,

a coil supporting apron at the entry side of said second coil elevating means and movable therewith,

one of said aprons adapted to assume an inclined position for supporting a coil transferred from the first coil elevating means to the second coil elevating means,

said coil supporting apron of said first coil elevating means being pivotally mounted and adapted to assume an oblique position to prevent a coil moving off said first coil elevating means in a direction of said uncoiler, and

means for raising and lowering said pivotally mounted apron.

3. In an apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first coil elevating means comprises two driven rollers adapted to uncoil a portion of the coil in a direction of said processing machine,

said means for interrupting movement of said moving means including detector means arranged above said first coil elevating means for actuation by a coil raised by said first coil elevating means in a manner so that coils of varying diameters are always raised to said predetermined position.

4. In an apparatus according to claim 3 including means arranged above both of said first and second coil elevating means for receiving a strip uncoiled by said first coil engaging means and for supporting it above said uncoiler,

said detector means and said means for supporting a strip being transversely movable away from said first and second coil elevating means.

5. In an apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said conveyor is arranged at a higher elevation than said first and second coil elevating means and said uncoiler,

a cradle arranged between said exit side of said conveyor and said first coil elevating means adapted to transfer coils from the conveyor to said first elevating means.

6. An apparatus for handling coil of strip-like material in combination:

a conveyor on which a coil to be processed in a longitudinally spaced processing machine is disposed,

a cradle arranged at the delivery side of the coil conveyor adapted to receive a coil from the conveyor and position it in a first station where the coil will be conditioned for feeding to said processing machine,

means associated with said cradle to cause an interruption of the movement of the conveyor once a coil has moved from the conveyor onto the cradle,

a coil lift including a pair of driven support rolls for receiving a coil from the cradle, the support roll furthest away from the processing machine being moved relative to said other support roll,

means for raising the relatively movable roll so as to cause a coil supported by the rolls to be discharged from the first station into a second station,

other means for raising both of said support rolls togcther to bring a coil to a predetermined reference point,

means engaged by a coil so raised effective to cause an interruption of the operation of the means for raising said support rolls,

means in said first station to detect the extent of the vertical movement of the coil support rolls which determined displacement with reference to said reference point will represent the diameter of the coil being supported by the rolls,

the coil in its raised position being adapted to be r0.-

tated by the rolls so as to feed the leading end of the coil in the direction of said processing machine,

said first station also including an apron movable with said coil support rolls adapted to pivot about said non-displaceable roll and serving as a first portion of an inclined runway between the first station and the second station,

said second station including a traversable side plate movable towards and away from one of the sides of a coil and a traversable rotatable mandrel adapted to be brought into one of the openings of a coil,

said second station including a pair of coil-supporting rolls which serves to support a coil when being uncoiled in said second station,

means for moving vertically the coil support rolls of said second station,

a second portion of said inclined runway movable with said rolls of said second station,

the said means for moving the rolls of said second station associated with the means of said first station for detecting the diameter of a coil, whereby the vertical displacement of the rolls of said second station is controlled by the coiLdiameter detecting means, the arrangement being such that the elevation of a coil will be predeterminately positioned in the first station, which position will have a fixed relationship to the center of said mandrel in such a manner to compensate for the elfect of the inclined runway.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FRANK I. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

N. L. MINTZ, Examiner. 

